Amazon API Gateway vs Google Cloud Endpoints: What are the differences?

Key Differences between Amazon API Gateway and Google Cloud Endpoints

Amazon API Gateway and Google Cloud Endpoints are two popular tools used for designing, deploying, and managing APIs. While both serve the same purpose, there are some key differences between them:

1. Architecture: Amazon API Gateway is a fully managed service built on AWS that allows developers to create, deploy, and manage APIs. It provides a serverless architecture and takes care of scaling and high availability. On the other hand, Google Cloud Endpoints is part of the Google Cloud Platform and provides similar functionalities like API management, but it requires developers to provision and manage the underlying infrastructure.

2. Backend Integration: Amazon API Gateway allows integration with various backend services such as AWS Lambda, EC2, and HTTP/HTTPS endpoints. It also provides features like request/response transformations and caching. Google Cloud Endpoints, on the other hand, primarily integrates with Google App Engine, but it can also be used with other backend services through Extensible Service Proxy.

3. Pricing Model: Amazon API Gateway has a pay-as-you-go pricing model, where you pay for the number of API calls, data transferred, and additional features like caching and request/response transformations. Google Cloud Endpoints also follows a similar pricing model, but it provides a free tier for the first 2 million API calls per month.

4. Authentication and Authorization: Amazon API Gateway offers various authentication and authorization mechanisms such as IAM, Cognito, and OAuth. It allows fine-grained control over access to APIs and resources. Google Cloud Endpoints also supports authentication and authorization using Google Cloud Identity and Access Management (IAM), allowing developers to secure their APIs effectively.

5. Monitoring and Analytics: Amazon API Gateway provides detailed logging and monitoring capabilities, allowing developers to track API usage, performance, and errors. It integrates well with other AWS services like CloudWatch and X-Ray for advanced analytics and debugging. Google Cloud Endpoints also offers logging and monitoring features through integration with Cloud Logging and Cloud Monitoring. It provides insights into API usage and performance metrics.

6. Developer Experience: Both Amazon API Gateway and Google Cloud Endpoints provide developer-friendly tools and resources to design, deploy, and manage APIs. Amazon API Gateway offers a visual interface for API creation and management, along with SDKs for various programming languages. Google Cloud Endpoints provides a command-line tool and API Console for managing APIs. Additionally, it offers client libraries for popular programming languages as well.

In Summary, Amazon API Gateway and Google Cloud Endpoints have distinct differences in terms of architecture, backend integration, pricing, authentication and authorization, monitoring and analytics, and developer experience. Choosing between the two depends on specific requirements, existing infrastructure, and familiarity with the respective platforms.